


Give Me One Good Movie Kiss

by Cinderscream



Series: kat does sledgefu week 2020 [5]
Category: The Pacific (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, I swear its not angsty Gene's just feelin some type of way, M/M, his is just 1k of Gene being in love with snafu, mentions of internalized homophobia, sledge's catholic upbringing, snafu can dress a little slutty. for pride, there is glitter on Burgie's floor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:20:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25631965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinderscream/pseuds/Cinderscream
Summary: It's Sledge's first pride, and his thoughts are running away from him.
Relationships: Merriell "Snafu" Shelton/Eugene Sledge
Series: kat does sledgefu week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860643
Comments: 18
Kudos: 22
Collections: Sledgefu Week 2020





	Give Me One Good Movie Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> i call this one: projecting my catholic upbringing on Sledge ksdhghg

Sledge looks at his face in the bathroom mirror, fingers hovering over the paint on his face, the rainbow that Jay had carefully colored in with a paintbrush shaking in his hand, the pigment sitting vibrantly against his pale cheek, over the faint flecks of brown freckles. It's nothing altogether that fancy, just a rainbow, and he's not wearing anything particularly outlandish, just a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, tucked into his jeans, that also happens to have a rainbow on it, although it's been faded with age, having sat in the back of his closet for a year after he bought it, not quite brave enough to wear it, not yet.

(He’s wearing so many rainbows now, actually. More than he’s ever been brave enough to wear.)

His jacket's a little flashier, washed out blue denim covered in patches and buttons, more rainbows, little metallic hearts, assorted flags that his friends had given him over the years that had sat in a box in his closet with his rainbow shirt and now that he's pinned them onto his jacket, he wonders how he's going to make space for more. He’ll have to buy another jacket, black leather, like Snafu’s. Or something like that, he thinks, with a little jolt of excitement. 

A problem for later, that he pushes to the back of his mind, running his fingers over the one of the small cat patches on his shoulders, its mismatched eyes mischievous. He’d picked it up because it’s little smile had reminded him of Snafu’s, and he and Jay had ironed it on (and burned their fingers in the process). 

"Hey Sledge, are you almost done in there?" calls Leyden from the other side of the door, his hand banging against the wood, and Sledge pretends that he didn't startle, his heart racing just a little, though he knows that he's not in any sort of danger of being teased for his attire. He’s not even the most wildly dressed.

It's different though, he thinks, being out so openly when for so long he'd shoved who he was into a neat little box and didn't think about it because thinking about it meant examining things he shouldn't want (and couldn't have, if the condemnation of every Sunday morning had any merit). It doesn't, he knows that now, but it's not something he knows how to completely unravel from his identity, having been entrenched in the church for as long as he has. He's learning though- a long and arduous process that requires far more introspection than he’s comfortable with, but he's learning.

Leyden pushes past him when he opens the door to get out of the bathroom, a pink-purple-blue flag smeared onto his face like war paint, his leather jacket tied around his waist so that he's just in his white tank top. There's a conspicuous amount of glitter that's been poured over his hair, and when Sledge turns into the main room, he sees Jay staring at the wall, trying to look innocent, while Snafu grins back unrepentantly.

And Sledge has to stop and stare for a little bit, because Snafu must have just gotten here and Sledge hadn’t known what he was going to wear. He’s sure it wouldn’t have mattered what he wore, since Snafu, annoyingly, looks good in everything but- 

Oh, he thinks. 

Snafu, in his tiny red shorts ( _ enemy of the state _ , they read, because of course) and a blouse so sheer it seems more of a suggestion of a shirt, under which Sledge can see red shirt , cropped just low enough to hide his surgery scars, a far cry from usual outfit of tight-jeans-and-t-shirt, but then, it  _ is  _ special occasion. Snafu has the same pink-purple-blue as Leyden on one cheek, but the other is streaked pastel blue then pink then white then pink then blue again, and he looks so happy, a brilliance to his smile that doesn't always get to be there, that often has to be stifled away and Sledge knows- he can feel it too- that bubbly strange weightlessness of being open about himself with his friends who all seem to bloom just a little brighter in the vivid colors of their flags.

"Stop spilling glitter on my floor", grumbles Burgie, scowling at Snafu. He's forgone the face paint in favor of a cape tied loosely around his neck, pink-yellow-blue, his dark hair pushed back neatly with a baby blue bandanna that matches the soft blue of his eyes.

"Aw, Burge it ain't a big deal", says Snafu and Burgie rolls his eyes at him, cuffing him in the back of the head. He receives a bratty pout in return. 

"Not a big deal my ass, you're not the one who had to clean it up last year", Burgie retorts, plucking himself off the wall to go look for a broom. Snafu turns his crooked grin back to Sledge, something in his eyes turning it sweet.

Sledge stops, caught in the web of Snafu's eyes, and his heart does a funny little twist, like it's seeing him for the first time again. Like they're both college freshmen once more and Sledge is bumping into him on the way to his dorm and there's books toppling from his arms, straight into Snafu's unsuspecting face (earning him a black eye that Sledge had felt terribly guilty for). And Snafu had laughed, even at the time, one hand clutched over a teary, slowly swelling eye, the other trying to grasp for Sledge's books and Sledge had stumbled over his apologies, his face the same furious shade of red as his hair. He’d fallen in love with his laugh first, a loud and chiming thing, eager to take up space, to be known.

It had been an... Odd first meeting, to be sure, but not one that Sledge regrets. He could never regret meeting Snafu, though maybe he regrets how long it had taken him to realize just how much he loved him. They'd both suffered, and it was almost entirely Sledge's fault. (Or, he claims it is, because he’d pined and yearned and according to Burgie, Snafu had been just as bad, except he’d thought that Sledge was straight, and admittedly, at the time, Sledge did too, but it worked out didn’t it? There had only been a little bit of tears involved)

They're sitting side by side on Burgie's couch, fingers intertwined, and Snafu's looking through his phone, glitter caught in his eyelashes that Sledge wants to brush out (it'll surely fall into his eyes and then they'll all be in trouble), follows the gentle slope of his nose down to his plush mouth, goes back up to his eyes, green and gray and blue at once. He thinks of his laughter and his smile and his cooking, the sleepy ruffle of his hair in the morning, how he clasps Sledge’s hand like an instinct, and he thinks, yeah, he does love Snafu.

"You think I have enough water bottles in here?" Jay asks, interrupting his thoughts and swinging his heavy backpack that's full of  _ only _ water bottles and that surely has to  _ hurt _ to carry, from the way the straps seem to cut into Jay’s shoulders, surely cutting off his circulation. 

"We're not gonna be there that long", says Snafu, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I wanna be prepared! We can't ruin Sledge's first pride by passing out from dehydration", Jay chides back, and Sledge snorts. He doubts any of them would actually pass out, the heat isn't that bad and they really aren't staying that long. Still, he appreciates the thought. Jay shrugs, clinging to his overstuffed bag of water bottles.

"If anyone's gonna pass out, it'll be Leyden", Snafu snickers, unbothered by Sledge shoving his shoulder.

"Don't be rude!" Privately, he thinks it’s true.

"I'm not! Just sayin', he talks all tough, but he'll forget to put on sunscreen or drink water and next thing you know, he’s face plantin' on the street or he's red as lobster and cryin about the sunburn so-", Snafu shrugs.

"And that's never happened to you?" Sledge asks.

Snafu goes to shake his head, reconsiders, then admits, "I fell asleep on the beach once and woke up burned and sore and miserable. Burgie made fun of me that whole week and it was the shittiest spring break of my life."

Sledge laughs at that and Snafu pouts, crossing his arms, though it's not long before he's smiling again, unable to help the fondness that blooms in his eyes.

Sledge had never quite realized what he did that triggered that fondness, but it never fails to make his belly flutter. It's easy to ignore this distant doubt in his head, a pulsing thing that had followed him around since he discovered that he likes boys, that there's really nothing he can do about that (that he wants to do about that). That doubt withers with every one of Snafu's blinding smiles, his star-shine eyes, the words of his pastor fading into obscurity because what does that man know about love?

Yeah, he thinks, warm and happy and painted with rainbows and holding hands with a boy,  _ this _ is love.

**Author's Note:**

> anyways gay rights


End file.
